BBC journalist Jihad Masharawi carries his son’s body at a Gaza hospital. The Israelis killed his son and his sister-in-law with a rocket or missle strike on their house. (Associated Press)

The Israelis killed Omar Misharawi, Jihad's baby boy in an attack on his home. The front page photo on Thursday’s Washington Post tells, in a single frame, a very personal story from Wednesday’s Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip. Jihad Misharawi, a BBC Arabic journalist who lives in Gaza, carries the body of his 11-month old son, Omar, through al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. An Israeli round hit Misharawi’s four-room home in Gaza Wednesday, killing his son, according to BBC Middle East bureau chief Paul Danahar, who arrived in Gaza earlier Thursday. Misharawi’s sister-in-law was also killed, and his brother wounded. Misharawi told Danahar that, when the round landed, there was no fighting in his residential neighborhood. “We’re all one team in Gaza,” Danahar told me, saying that Misharawi is a BBC video and photo editor. After spending a “few hours” with his grieving colleague, he wrote on Twitter, ”Questioned asked here is: if Israel can kill a man riding on a moving motorbike (as they did last month) how did Jihad’s son get killed.” Danahar also shared the following photos of Misharawi’s small Gaza home, which appears to have been heavily damaged. The place where the round punctured his ceiling is clearly visible.

Jihad Misharawi’s home. (Paul Danahar/BBC)

Jihad Misharawi’s home. (Paul Danahar/BBC)

BBC World editor Jon Williams sent a memo about the young child’s death to colleagues, according to The Telegraph:

Our thoughts are with Jihad and the rest of the team in Gaza. This is a particularly difficult moment for the whole bureau in Gaza. We’re fortunate to have such a committed and courageous team there. It’s a sobering reminder of the challenges facing many of our colleagues.

Reuters also had a photographer at the Gaza City hospital where Misharawi took his son. The story that these photos tell, of loss and confusion, may help inform the Palestinian reactions – and, as the photos continue to spread widely on social media, perhaps the reactions from beyond the Palestinian territories – to the violence between Israel and Gaza.

Source: A WP Blogger

Editor's Comment: Paul Danahar's question is a valid one: ”Questioned asked here is: if Israel can kill a man riding on a moving motorbike (as they did last month) how did Jihad’s son get killed.” The Israelis bragged about their "precision missile strikes" and "surgical operation" in this cowardly attack on the people of Gaza. It's difficult for many to believe that the Israelis could intentionally attack the house of a BBC journalist. But their history and motives are clear when one considers the journalists they have intentionally killed in the past and their known racism toward Palestinians like Jihad Misharawi. Israel's message with these 2 murders is clear - journalists keep out and mind your own business and news agencies who employ Palestinians can expect them to be eliminated. But exposing the Israelis does not bother them. They become caught in their own web of lies and even then look with pride on their ability to kill and lie with impunity.

And the response by BBC executives whose journalist was killed by the Israelis? We're told their world editor, Jon Williams sent out the pathetic memo which we have no doubt was first vetted & edited by his bosses. A search on the BBC website for the name, Jihad Masharawi brings, "Sorry, there are no results." Meanwhile, the BBC continues to support another Israeli assault on the people of Palestine, headlining: Israel's success in murdering the leader of the Hamas military; cynically casting shadows on Egypt for not defending Gaza; justifying the Israeli attack on civilians with exaggerated reports of Gaza's danger to Israel, e.g. an unsourced twitter message "purportedly showing an Israeli air force attack on a rocket warehouse in Gaza" and finally, placing great emphasis and value on the deaths of 3 Israelis while calling the people killed in Palestine, "mainly militants" when the world knows that 75% of them were civilians including women and babies. Read more about BBC's biased reporting in favor of Israel over the Palestinians in Amena Saleem's careful analysis: As Israel Assaults Gaza, BBC Reporting Assaults the Truth.

- Les Blough, Editor